#me doing humanities literacy and behavior

[arg0t]

lmao now she wants me to think about us running an alternative education program employing only our family

[saccharinescorpion]

i've been debating on whether to post about this but what the hell, it's relevant both to today's episode and the topic of people trying to smooth over the flaws of Dungeon Meshi characters.... so, uh, remember what i said yesterday about Laios forgetting the basics of human decency when interacting with Izutsumi

i was intially worried about people reading this scene in uhh certain ways but was thankful to see most fans were chill with it... before i realized that. uh. maybe people were being a little too chill

okay............ so,

1. for the record: i believe that it is clear from what we know about him and what we know about the entire series as a whole that, yes, Laios didn't have "untoward" intentions towards Izutsumi in this scene. there's even an aside in Izutsumi's profile in the Adventurer's Bible that says as much. he likely saw it in basically the same way Falin did when she was observing the reproductive organs of the caterpillar in that one scene. FOR THE RECORD this excuse would basically never fly in real life, but for Laios, it actually honestly makes sense... he has a habit of ignoring people's boundaries, he gets ahead of himself when it comes to learning about monsters... he didn't have bad intentions, no, but it doesn't change the fact that he's an adult man (not a [my face contorts with a great pain] "curious boy") who was being really invasive about a teenage girl's body. it was weird. it was 100% weird, lmao, i don't think fans are "lacking media literacy" by saying "uh yeah that was kind of creepy and inappropriate of Laios"

2. and i also don't think it's villifying ND people to say that. if i were to be honest, i would argue the whole "he's just a curious boy :(" thing is a lot more offensive to neurodivergent people. Laios clearly knows about the concept of bodily autonomy- he felt weird and bad about touching Marcille and Senshi in "intimate" ways just to heal them. literally one scene after this one he expresses embarassment about accidentally touching the leg of (who he thinks to be) Marcille. he very obviously possesses the capacity to understand why it would be inappropriate to observe a stranger's body like they were an animal. i can accept the explanation that his monster curiosity temporarily overpowered his "oh actually maybe i shouldn't try to get up close and person with this teenager who i literally just met," but that doesn't change that he had to be restrained from doing that. i'm not even saying he's a "bad person" or anything because of this scene- i just am baffled at the idea of fans being presented with the slightest bit of messiness (he was creepy to a young girl, however unintentionally) and jumping to try and "justify" it (he's just silly, he's socially awkward, he's autistic, he's a Curious Boy) and even mock others who rightfully point out that that was uncomfortable behavior. Laios was creepy to Izutsumi. he didn't mean to, but he did (and to be quite frank he was lucky to get off with a smack from Chilchuck and a blindfold)

3. "I would also ask" excuse me?

[beanzwrites]

│Chapter One│

│Human! Alastor x Reader│

Ⓢⓨⓝⓞⓟⓢⓘⓢ: Alastor offers (Y/n) a job, and though they are hesitant, they accept.

Ⓝⓞⓣⓔⓢ: The reader is indicated to be biologically female as they will face certain challenges throughout this story due to the time period. Characters set in this will refer to the reader as she, but for the most part, it will be gender neutral. This is written to be platonic but will remain ambiguous. There may be inaccuracies to the time frame. This series may and will contain things such as sexism, classism, gender dysphoria, bullying, mentions of religion, and gore. Please read at your own risk.

〣Previous Part 〣

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"Alastor. Charmed to meet you! I must say, this is an awful lot of stuff you have here. Mind if I ask what you are doing?" The man speaks with glee.

(Y/n) notes a shine in his eyes they couldn't quite decipher, and a feeling of uncertainty washes over them. Very few people have shown interest towards them willingly, as the locals have made sure to blacklist them due to their unorthodox behavior, and (Y/n) mentally barricades themself for where this interaction will lead to. Surely, it won't end well.

"Just working on an assignment," (Y/n) replies, cautiously watching as the man permits himself to sit at the table.

"One for learning then! What does one such as yourself want to be?" Alastor hums, looking over the covered surface with curiosity.

"I'm currently enrolled for journalism. Nothing too grand..."

"I see, I see. Do tell about this fascination you have with the Bayou Killer then? Surely, the college doesn't speak of such things in a mere literacy class," Alastor casually remarks as he takes up one of the cut-out articles that (Y/n) made notes on in his hand, "My, what interesting theories you have! Do you really think this murderer has a vendetta against ill-willed men?"

"That's none of your concern," (Y/n) snaps as they tear their work away from the stranger's hold. The man's smile twitches slightly, his stare intensifying on them for a moment. (Y/n) would've been intimated if it weren't for the immediate regret they felt pull at their heart. Alastor's arms fall into his lap, and the grin he wore before falls as he leans back. Were they truly so standoffish as Joanne claims?

"I apologize..." (Y/n) sighs out, "That was rude of me, and though I cannot excuse my terrible behavior, it's been an off day for me. Please pardon my actions."

"That's quite alright, my dear. I've had a few days in the ditch myself, but my mother always told me that if you want something to happen, act as if you already have it," Alastor reflects with the wiggle of his finger. "Nothing a little music can't help either! Instead of working one's finger to the bone, why don't you come dance with me?"

"That's very kind of you, but you wouldn't want to dance with me."

"Nonsense! If I didn't want to, I wouldn't have asked."

"If you want to go home with a broken toe, then by all means."

"How farcical of you," Alastor laughs, "I'd like to see you try!"

Alastor's temperament returns back to a mirthful one such as before, an ever-growing smile etched on his lips and waggish gleam casting from his eyes. His slim fingers tap against the glass he brought with him from the bar, sipping from the alcoholic beverage periodically as his gaze drifts over to the bustling scene of the dancefloor. (Y/n) watches too, as pretty girls with short furling dresses and babydoll curls gather with their friends to dance with boys who bought them one to many drinks. The laughter that bounces throughout the building suddenly becomes too much for (Y/n), and though Alastor sat just beside them, a staggering loneliness weighs heavy on them.

"Please don't let me keep you," (Y/n) mutters, returning their focus back on the papers laid out in front of them. Not like they had the motivation to work now, but it was the only thing that would keep their mind from wandering too far. Scribbling away once more, (Y/n) couldn't help but to be curious of a soft creaking coming closer to their side, and peek over to see Alastor's watchful regard reading over their writing. "What are you doing?"

"Mere curiosity is all, sweet. You need it in my line of work, but I suppose you would understand where I'm coming from, wouldn't you?"

"It's not my job to be curious, I just simply am."

"Is that so?" Alastor asks with a raise of his brow, "I would've assumed a clever woman such as yourself would have a high standing occupation to go with her wit."

"And that would be a first for me being called clever instead of imprudent," (Y/n) laughs, "Sadly, your assumption is mistaken. I guess people just don't see anything else besides my gender. I can't be smart like a man nor curious like a man can. How lucky for you."

"I could care less," Alastor answers, "All that matters is that I see potential, a potential I can guide."

"What could I possibly give you that won't bite you in retaliation?"

"You have no idea who I am, do you?" He grins somewhat diabolically, "What could society possibly say about you that would bring down the best radio host in city? Trust me, you aren't the only one who's name escapes disquieting tongues. From one interesting person to another, I persist that we join forces. Come work with me at that radio station."

"You come off awfully fast. I don't even know you!"

"You can't race time, but you can be quick with it! You need a job, do you not?"

"I'll think about it," (Y/n) remarks, "I'm still in school after all. I will have to see when and if my schedule permits it. You cannot control time either, you know?"

"I understand completely, my dear! Take all the time you need. My radio isn't going anywhere if I can help it!"

"There you are!" The familiar sound of (Y/n)'s mother calls out over the live music. The fringes of their mother's dress shine under the fluorescents like gold as she walks over to the table, an ecstatic red painted smile expressing how she felt. She looked absolutely stunning, (Y/n) thought. Her aging has always been graceful, like that of fine silk, and a small sense of pride fills them as they think back on Mimzy's praise. (Y/n) never saw themself as beautiful, always opting to hide away from attention as much as they could, but the similarities they had with their mother was something they always liked. "I was worried that you didn't show up."

"I would never disobey you, Ma." (Y/n) comments as their mother sits across from Alastor.

"I see you've made a friend!" Their mom's eyes twinkle as her attentiveness casts over to the man, "I'm Lorraine, (Y/n)'s mother. Pleasure to meet you!"

"The pleasure is all mine!" Alastor greets, "I must say, what an excellent performance you put on earlier! I suppose talent runs in the family?"

(Y/n)'s mother surveys him quizzically, pursing her lips in thought, before her eyes brighten.

"Did (Y/n) let you read her writings? Marvelous, isn't it? I don't know where she got her smarts from, but it surely wasn't me! I have to say though, she normally doesn't get along quick with strangers. What did you do to be so special?"

(Y/n)'s cheeks heat slightly as their mother peeks at them, a smirk on her face. They quickly collect their papers with a pout, glaring from the eulogize words their mom practically sang. "Don't call yourself dumb, Ma. You are anything but," (Y/n) grumbles, "The only reason Mister Alastor here read anything is because he allowed himself to without permission."

"You wound me!" Alastor cries, clasping his suit where his heart should be, "Your work merely fascinates me is all. I offered them a job, you know?"

"Really?" Lorraine exclaims with a gasp, "Oh, (Y/n)! That's wonderful! What will she be doing?"

"Helping me write manuscripts for my broadcast. If she says yes, that is."

"You must say yes, sweetheart! This is a miracle to you from God!" (Y/n)'s mother pleads as she take her child's hands in hers. "It may not be exactly what you want, but you've been given a chance."

"I've been called many things in my life, but God is a first." Alastor bombinates with a tilt of his head.

"Oh! My apologize, Mister Alastor!" their mom remarks, "Thank you for seeing good in my daughter!"

"Why do I feel like I don't have a choice here?" (Y/n) mutters, watching the two adults go back and forth in chatter. Their mother, charismatic as ever, goes off on a tangent about (Y/n)'s greatest strengths that could be useful in the workplace. Her face beams with absolute gratitude and support; it makes (Y/n) feel off about their previous cumbersome comments. Alastor nods along with their mother's insistent information, his head leaning casually against his closed fist.

A sense of mystery surrounds this man, (Y/n) notes cautiously. Though his demeaner was nothing short of friendly, his eyes held unknown intent. The edge of his smile quirks slightly as he continues listening to their mother, but the tapping of his foot shows a sense of urgency. (Y/n) continues observing the stranger, even when his eyes connect with theirs.

All their life, no one besides their mother showed such fervent interest in their activities. On many occasions, they were told that their insistence on bountiful knowledge would only lead them to be fruitless. No one in this city would've told this man good things about their progressive exertion, and it only made (Y/n) want to build up their walls even higher. Their mother wasn't oblivious to people's intentions and wickedness, however. She's had her fair share of snakes, and she knows when to spot one, even with her honey-like spirit. It caused a sense of unsureness within (Y/n)'s own perception; were the things that they heeded true, or was there an underlining of their insecurities seeping through? If their mother didn't raise any alarm of what she thought of Alastor, why should they?

"Can I help you with something?" Alastor calmly asks as his stare bores into (Y/n)'s.

"I was just wondering..." (Y/n) declares, "When would you like me to start?"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━☻━━━━━━━━━━━━━

(Y/n) vigorously taps their pencil against the desk, eyes glued to the hands ticking by on the clock above the professor's head. Time surely was testing (Y/n)'s patience today, as their history teacher had brought her lecture to a closing a few minutes ago, and opted the students to work on anything that needed to get done before it was officially time to leave. (Y/n), diligent as ever, made sure to be on top of their class assignments. There was really no reason for them to stay in class; however, the anxiety that bubbled underneath their skin prompted them to linger a little longer.

Very few students remain in the room, most taking the free time as a way of escape from their responsibilities. Though some moil over their own homework in silence, others gathered together leisurely in gossip. The boisterous laughter buzzed uncomfortably in (Y/n)'s ears like that of an unreachable itch, but the loudness of their own head distracted them more so.

With persistent persuasion from their mother after the encounter with Alastor, (Y/n) requested to start at the station the beginning of the upcoming week. The weekend went by before they could even process what they had accepted, and now that the afternoon of their first shift has presented itself in a cloudy manner, (Y/n)'s doubt sprouted in a messy briar of potency. But, the distraction of their own loathing couldn't even be dealt with in peace.

A sharp pain warms the back of (Y/n)'s head with great vehemence, as a strand of their hair is tugged on in an arbitrary manner. The audible hiss that escapes through their teeth causes an eruption of cackles behind them. (Y/n) swiftly turns to the obnoxious noise, icy vexation carrying their stare. Donald Raslo, a boy with slick auburn locks and a smile that would gain any clueless woman's trust, eyes (Y/n) with a look they could only describe as vile. His teeth tug at his bottom lip mischievously, hazel orbs casting over their body. An involuntary shutter of disgust travels down their spine as their fellow classmate reaches over to grab at their hair again.

"Don't touch me," (Y/n) growls in absolute rancor.

"I'm surprised you haven't just shaved it all off yet," Donald simply replies with a maniacal grin. "You know, since you want to be a man so bad."

"You are pathetic," (Y/n) responds coolly as they turn back in their seat to quickly gather their things. Another agonizing pull forces their head back as Donald watches from behind his thin-framed glasses.

"It's all just fun and games!" Donald chuckles, as if his insults were anything but cruel, "You get defensive so quickly. Relax a little, doll."

"What do you want?" (Y/n) bluntly asks, jerking the strand away that Donald curled with his finger.

"I was wondering if you would go to the dance with me. I've wanted to ask for a while now."

A scowl morphs onto (Y/n)'s face, and they rise from their sit. Anger boils throughout their body, their nails involuntarily digging at their palms. Without another word to the boy, (Y/n) excuses themself to their teacher, and flounces out of the room. The heels on their feet become unbearably heavy as they stalk throughout the halls, visibly shaking as the distant feeling of Donald's hand through their hair burns at their scalp. (Y/n) wanted to scrub their head raw as their discomfort taunts them.

The world around them spins, and tears catch at the edge of their eyes. Deep huffs of air exhale from (Y/n) as they try to calm down. They despised themself for letting such childish behavior bring them into such a vulnerable state, but the tightness in their chest was excruciating.

Sometimes, they wished that they weren't so different.

The smell of freshly bloomed marigolds ground (Y/n) back to reality as they push open an exit door of the school. The sky basks in a slate blue, caressing the earth in a rare coolness of spring. The wetness on their cheeks startles them; they hadn't realized they were crying. Wiping their cheeks with the sleeve of their overcoat, they settle themself on the pavement steps gliding down into town. They stare blankly ahead, a fixed frown on their face.

(Y/n) never let the bullying affect them too much, convincing themself that the others were too callow for their own good. They taught themself at a very young age to stifle their insecurities, and eventually, people would just leave you alone. (Y/n) isn't an emotionless robot, however. As hardened as they try to appear, wounds that are consistently probed at never truly heal.

"(Y/n)?"Joanne, small and quiet in tone, carefully settles herself down by them, sun hat in her petite white-gloved hands. Her eyebrows arch together in worry and a deep frown sits on her usually cheerful face. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," (Y/n) remarks as their eyes remain ahead. They subtly wipe at their cheeks again, letting out a deep sigh. "What do you need?"

"I wanted to apologize, for what I said to you before. It was very unbecoming of me. I'm sorry."

"Water under the bridge, Ann..."

"Good," Joanne says after a moment, "I couldn't live with my best friend being upset with me."

"I'm not petty by any means. The most I would've done is never talk to you again," (Y/n) snorts.

"You call that not being petty?" Joanne laughs, "You and I have different morals on what that looks like then! Seriously though, are we alright?"

"We will be, (Y/n) replies, "There's still a lot I have to think on."

"I understand... I heard that Donald asked you to the dance. You rejected him."

"I'm guessing he told you that. I'm still not accepting his offer, if that is why you are truly out here."

"I won't pressure you into dating someone you don't like. I know my fair share in that," Joanne reflects as she pinches at the fabric of her skirt delicately, "Will you at least think about going still? Even if you go alone, I'll be happy that you're there."

"You know I don't do good at socializing," (Y/n) answers, "It's best if I just stick to myself."

"Could I maybe convince you over coffee? The cafe should still be open."

"I won't be able to today. I have plans already," (Y/n) acknowledges as they stand. Casting their gaze over to the girl, a smirk cracks onto their solemn expression. "I might take you up on the offer at a later date though. Our last get-together ended kind of sour, after all."

"Sure, but why the sudden leave?" Joanne questions as she stands herself.

"I got a job."

"Oh, (Y/n)! That's wonderful!" Joanne exclaims as she races to hug her friend. "Mind if I ask where?"

"A local radio station," (Y/n) simply remarks, rigidly patting Joanne on the back. Their friend pulls away soon after, hands firmly holding their shoulders and a big grin on her face.

"How long have been working there? Is that why you haven't been around?"

"Not exactly... I've been helping my Mom with her new job after my classes. That's where I met my boss actually; I start today."

"You'll have to tell me all of the details later! Promise you will!"

"I promise... Can you let me go now?"

━━━━━━━━━━━━━☻━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Wheels squeal to life as the bus (Y/n) took to the far edge of town starts up again. The ground beneath them rumbles as the trolley continues back to civilization, and (Y/n) begins to venture across the street where the treeline of the marsh begins.

A dirt road trails off into the forest, a black tin mailbox posted alongside it. Glancing at the scrapped piece of paper in their hands, (Y/n) read over the address Alastor hastily wrote down for them a few days before, and confirm this was the driveway to the radio station.

Leaves, thick like smoke, hover over (Y/n) in shadowed agglomerations, and sweat begins to bead across their forehead as the coolness of the day begins to heat up once more. The muggy atmosphere felt almost suffocating, but they continued onwards with tenacious intent. Though anxiety still roared within their heart in fast palpitations, they'd be damned to show up late.

The forest rang with muffled silence, the chirping of crickets seeming to echo but a distance. (Y/n) follows along the wooden fence that barricaded the road from the woodland's depths, and soon enough, a scrupulous house and rustic barn are revealed as the narrow path opens up into a field.

As (Y/n) walks up to the porch, confusion entwines in their thoughts as they quickly notice how vacant this station seemed to be. They knock on the screen door and wait a few moments with furrowed brows.

Where was everybody?

"There you are, dear!" The charismatic voice of Alastor discloses his presence, his never-changing smile lining his pearly whites with thin lines. "I hope your travels gave you no trouble."

"Your station is a long ways from the city. I almost thought I got off at the wrong place. Where are the others?" (Y/n) asks curiously as they walk down to meet him.

"The others?" Alastor questions.

"Surely you don't do everything yourself? Where are your other employees?"

"I don't need a whole group to do tasks I'm perfectly capable of doing myself," Alastor comments as he leads (Y/n) towards the barn with his hand on their upper back. "I will say though, I'm ecstatic to see how you work. I sure do hope you do not disappoint me."

"Me either..." (Y/n) mutters, malaise injecting itself once again into their nerves.

As they enter, (Y/n) notices rather quickly that this isn't a typical barn house, but instead, it has been renovated in Alastor's image. The area was spacious and quaint, organized in a way that aligned with Alastor's schedule. Sound panels lined the wall, a table adjacent to them equipped with a microphone and headphones. Paper cabinets were stationed in the far corner and a cork board pinned with different notes and articles hung above them. A lounge area was arranged near the center, couches patterned with red and black circling a low rising coffee table. Along with the dim bulb lanterns that dropped from the ceiling, the atmosphere was quite cozy.

"This isn't what I was expecting," (Y/n) honestly reports, watching as Alastor casually sits on one of the sofas. "I was imagining a more... Claustrophobic environment to say the least."

"Oh, Heaven's no. I need my space to work," Alastor replies with a soft scoff. (Y/n) felt somewhat small compared to Alastor, his confidence burning like a rapid flame to wind. His knowledge on the world, though ostensibly coming off as arrogant at times, seemed to be too far-reached for the likes of (Y/n). However, a small spark of aspiration lit their need to learn, and a smaller part of them also hoped that Alastor would be patient in his teachings. Yet, (Y/n) also couldn't help but to remain cautious of this man's intentions. His ambitions towards them still remain unclear, and that caused an uncomfortable grip of fear on their heart.

"I'm still not fully sure on why you were insistent that I work for you. What can I do that someone else can't? You said it yourself you can manage perfectly fine on your own. I'm just curious on why," (Y/n) says, hesitantly walking further inside with their bag strap in a deathly grip.

"I've told you before," Alastor remarks in a deep timbered hum, his eye blown out and unwavering as he stares at them. "I want to experiment with your mind. See your ticks and how it responds to certain circumstances. I did my research more than you realize, sweet."

"You purposely sought me out because of gossip? You do realize you are feeding into a media man's stereotype, yes?"

"I never said I believed it! It is my job and passion, however, to create my own hypotheses. If it makes you feel any better, I do find that brain of yours quite fascinating so far."

"I don't really know what to say to that..."

"Let's make a deal then, shall we?" Alastor compels, "I'll let you cover any topic your heart desires while you work under me, and with the condition that you can leave at any time, I get to observe and test you in any way I please."

"And what makes you think I won't walk out of here right now? How can I guarantee you won't use anything against me?" (Y/n) tests with a grimace, hating the slight amusement they found in this position. They took pride in the work they do, knowing that every advantage they can access to achieve the truth should never be taken for granted. On the other hand, they despised needless societal gossip. Being on the receiving end of undeserved hate, they fully understand the need for veracity. Though, they don't fully commend Alastor at this point, the opportunity to disassemble the lies built in New Orleans overweighed any possible hesitations.

"You can't guarantee anything and I won't say if I will or if I won't. I know you won't walk away though," Alastor chuckles, "You are just like me; you won't turn down the possibility of destroying another."

"Is that so?" (Y/n) hisses out, a tempestuous glare keeping up with the puckish one their new boss held with them. "What do we start on first then?"

"Sit, dear." Alastor's smile widens as he gestures to the other couch, "We have much to discuss."

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[flowerbloom-arts]

If you don't mind me asking? Can you elaborate more on the problematic aspect of Mumrik please?

Don't take too much of my word for it because this isn't very researched and this is more of a stream of consciousness than anything but fanon "Mumriks" (Joxter and Snufkin), as I've seen here and there, fall dangerously close to antisemitic caricatures and Romani stereotypes.

For one thing, Joxter and Snufkin's personalities being equated leads to a mash of their negative traits, and their negative traits being laziness, deceitfulness, uncleanliness and tendency for thievery/utter disregard for the law to the point of amorality or indecency applied to both with either "natural explanations" (saying that's just an Inherent Part Of Their Species) or dubious motivations is deeply entrenched in stereotypes of the Roma throughout Europe.

The fandom tends to mystify Joxter and Snufkin alot on very shaky ground, with forebodings (gut feelings) that are treated as a magic litmus test for things to come or having a connection with ghosts or using divination like tarot which is based on either throwaway lines or background details that don't particularly affect the plot yet the fandom treats as one of their major traits that get used in plots alot. Romani people get stereotyped with that sort of mysticism alot, especially in association with the Fortune Telling business and to a lesser extent Mediumship and general superstition. I could also chalk this up to the mystic cat stereotype, particularly in association with witches and the like.

Joxter gets (or at least got, a while back) casted as the malevolent counterpart to Snufkin for the sake of Daddy Issues Angst, and that combined with people's dissatisfaction with Joxter and Snufkin's more human designs gave way to very impish or even monsterous depictions of Joxter (and sometimes Snufkin), which we can make parallels to antisemitic caricatures of Jewish people; sharp teeth, pointy ears, strange eyes, predominant nose, hind legs, tails, claws, generally untrustworthy vibes all around. Unclean and tattered, not to be trusted by others in any proximity; good for nothing thieves and tricksters.

People like to make "Mumriks" this massively marginalized group, afterall the two fellas we know are like... Hrm. But Joxter's lifestyle is hopelessly conflated with Snufkin's... Darn. People try to draw lines where they think they are but in doing so, it trying to replicate Tove's style of "some behaviors being inherent to a species" (which one can debunk with some critical thought and literacy) they accidentally create these stereotypes, they don't draw clear distinctions between Joxter and Snufkin even though Snufkin's mother is a Mymble, they don't consider how weird it would be within the context of our culture or even the context of these characters, yet somehow...

But this is just my thoughts as they currently are, I have thought about it alot but I do need to be on the lookout for more examples and do more proper digging. Again, I'm not accusing anyone of bigotry and purposefully baking them into characters who are clearly their darling faves, I'm just saying that there are certain things one must keep in mind when it comes to characterization and headcanons, or else one could accidentally recreate malicious bigotry without any malice.

[jokin-around]

Hey! I'm a huge fan of your Joker, and in general, I'm a really big fan of artists reclaiming the Joker as a queer character--in spite of everything DC does with him (lmao). Recently tho I've seen a ton of people saying you shouldn't "want the Joker to be a queer character bc he's an irredeemable person", and like, that's been driving me nuts lol. Wondered if you had any thoughts on the matter?

thank you! it pops up again every time a new wave of 15 year olds learn about comics through A03 fics and wikipedia summaries, I don't worry about it

ofc, there are several facets to this discussion, most of them revolving around media literacy and tokenism and homophobia within comics and such.... but I feel the most pressing one is that morality and sexuality have absolutely nothing to do with each other and although stereotypes exist and ultimately can effect how people are treated in the real world, it is possible to write someone who is both irredeemable and plausibly queer without intertwining the two, just like it's possible for an irredeemable person in the real world to have positive qualities, but still suck overall, to think otherwise is to oversimplify the complexity of being human and queerness as a widespread and common behavior

anyway, all that said, i don't ask for comics cannon joker to be queer because I ultimately don't trust a lot of people writing him and it;s a very easy thing to fumble with a character that messy, my interpretations mostly revolve around reclaiming aspects of queercoding that have been woven into his character over time, and I think it would ultimately be fun to get a cleaner slate one day and see the character return to a state that embraced a sort of jovial chaos with a little anarcho-left commentary sprinkled in

[scarlet--wiccan]

Is Pietro a sociopath? Bc I read this thing from RomaPop that repeatedly calls him one but I don’t remember reading anything like that?

https://hopeburnsbright.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/romapop-booklet-2016.pdf

I'm not an expert on psychiatry or personality disorders, so please take what I'm about to say with a grain of salt.

No, I do not believe that Pietro has ASPD or any related condition. I don't believe that the text properly supports that, and I don't believe that it would be a correct interpretation of the character based on my admittedly limited understanding of the matter at hand. In Scarlet Witch (2015), Wanda and Pietro get into a fight and she accuses him of being a "textbook sociopath." I believe that this terminology was misused and incorrectly applied, and I believe that this statement, much like Wanda's earlier diagnosis of "schizophrenia" in House of M, contradicts prior continuity and character treatments. Since then, I do not believe that notion of Pietro being a "sociopath" has been revisited.

A lot has been said in modern comics about both Wanda and Pietro's mental health, but a lot of it has been pathologizing and ableist, with an unspoken racial element that leaves a very poor taste in my mouth. Obviously, that includes HoM and the 2000s in general, which was just a really destructive period for both characters, but I think it also includes a lot of Peter David's earlier depictions of Pietro and the way his powers affect his behavior.

I tend to get kinda touchy when people want to ascribe certain conditions to either twin, because the material that this perception is based off of is often harmful or just inaccurate, and I think it gets in the way of actually exploring the more compelling, meaningful aspects of Wanda and Pietro's mental health or trauma. When it comes to these specific labels, like "sociopath," which have been applied to them in the past, I would rather disregard those statements, and maybe retcon them by having characters to talk about why they said, that while acknowledging that it was incorrect or misinformed.

For me, the gold standard of modern Pietro characterization is still Quicksilver: No Surrender, which takes a much more realistic and sympathetic approach to the character and all his flaws by focusing how the isolation and trauma he's experienced has caused him to develop unhealthy patterns. From there, maybe we can start to develop more specific language and diagnoses for the mental health challenges he and Wanda face, but I want it to be about their actual lives, not their powers.

And I should say, I believe very, very strongly, that stigmatized personality disorders deserve to be represented with humanity, dignity, and empathy. I just don't believe that this has ever been the case with this character.

I'm familiar with RomaPop and Vicente Rodriguez's work. I think there's a tendency for activists to speak about comic books and other typically niche media without necessarily developing advanced literacy in that media. I've noticed that a lot of people who, you know, do very good work discussing Romani issues, tend to make erroneous statements about comic book characters like Pietro, Wanda, Magneto, Nightcrawler, etc. because, I mean, they probably haven't read all the material. It takes a lot of time and commitment to become familiar with comic book lore and develop a clear editorial perspective on it.

[wcters]

i know this is not what i usually post on here but i just want to share this quote from margaret atwood on writing the handmaid’s tale:

“I made a rule for myself: I would not include anything that human beings had not already done in some other place or time, or for which the technology did not already exist. I did not wish to be accused of dark, twisted inventions, or of misrepresenting the human potential for deplorable behavior. The group-activated hangings, the tearing apart of human beings, the clothing specific to castes and classes, the forced childbearing and the appropriation of the results, the children stolen by regimes and placed for upbringing with high-ranking officials, the forbidding of literacy, the denial of property rights—all had precedents, and many of these were to be found, not in other cultures and religions, but within Western society, and within the “Christian” tradition itself.” taken from this article.

atwood also mentions this in why she decided it was time to write a sequel: "People had been asking me to write a sequel for a long time, and I always said no, because I thought they meant the continuation of the story of Offred which I couldn't do," she says. "But then I thought, what if somebody else were telling the story? And what if it were 15 or 16 years later? And it was also time, because for a while we thought we were moving away from The Handmaid's Tale. And then we turned around and started going back toward it, ominously close in many parts of the world.” taken from this article

these quotes say a lot. if you know what the handmaid’s tale is then you know what i mean. it is absolutely sickening that everything in that book is based on something true happening at some time in history. i haven’t read the book (i really want to) but i have watched the show.

yes, we have come a long way in terms of women’s rights, but we haven’t come far enough, and now we’re going backwards, and some countries are even getting closer to becoming the handmaid’s tale. you can see this backward movement almost everywhere, but it is extremely visible in women of colour and minorities. we need to help each other, not just us women, but men too.

i recommend watching this video because this man is amazing and everything he says is true. as well as the “man versus bear” debate correlates.

i was just watching some random youtube video when an ad with margaret atwood came up saying the quote from earlier and that got me hooked. the idea of that was in the back of my head but still. she is a genius. and she speaks the truth. we need to listen and we need to work collectively to stop this.

[the5thcellar]

The crossing boundary performative stuff is what makes the PR over the top and what turns people off. THAT is the stuff that isn’t needed or required of them. It makes everything about their supposed closeness questionable now. Professional PR industry folk were even on Twitter questioning certain behavior and said it went beyond normal and could potentially cause blowback.

this is a prime example of how the "it's all PR folks" are completely contradictory. it's not required of them to act that way.... so instead of accepting that they're genuine friends who share a level of intimacy and trust borne of their unique experiences ... people assume it's all fake ???

ok cool cool cool cool cool.

I mean. if that one photo of Antonia has y'all so fucking worked up I can't imagine how y'all are gonna react when more photos of them together start popping up. next thing I know y'all will start questioning if Nic and Luke even talk outside of doing their scenes together.

the lack of ability to deal with complexity and nuance is painful to watch.

different things can be true all at once. Luke and Nic can ham it up in interviews for the PR to tease fans. at the same time they can ALSO be really fucking great friends trying to navigate the fine line between friends and ... something else.

they can both see other people romantically ... and also be really fucking great friends who feel some type of way for each other.

they can get MARRIED TO OTHER PEOPLE and have kids and live whole other lives ... and also one day find their way back to each other.

this isn't even an uncommon path. it happens in real life and it happens in the celeb world.

I can't believe y'all think that just because they played some parts of their relationship up for PR ... that everything is suddenly fake and that they were outright lying to fans and trying to deceive them ...

and please miss me with the professional PR industry folk bs. I saw those tweets and rolled my eyes. I work in PR myself. those people were feeding into the frenzy and saying whatever would get them the most likes. it's obvious that it's hyperbole done for clicks. it's like doctors saying "I'm a medical professional and even I'm stumped by this case." they say it as a bit. if you actually asked them for their thoughts they WILL all have long drawn out explanations on the PR strategy the show is taking.

that's why media literacy and the humanities are so important. if people feel lied to regarding the PR, it's because they can't differentiate between when moments are exaggerated and when things are real. it's because they're too used to straightforward narratives à la Marvel movies and think what they see is literally what they get, instead of recognising that these are REAL PEOPLE with real lives and REAL relationships that are complicated. it's because they're watching too many tiktoks instead of reading novels and therefore not knowing how to read between the lines.

one rotten apple doesn't make the whole tree bad. if you feel you're being lied to and that the PR they did was all fake... that's mostly on you. find others who agree with you and can offer you the validation you clearly seek.

because i definitely don't feel the same.

[pwecie]

Hello everybody, before I start this, I need to preface everything that I’m about to say with some facts

My maternal grandfather is Palestinian, he has also lived in Israel.

My uncle fought in Afghanistan against terrorists.

Because of these, I feel like it’s important to clear up some misconceptions about the events going on.

Number 1: Israel’s primary target is Hamas. Hamas is a terrorist organization. Hamas has taken Israeli hostages who are just innocent citizens and have no connection to the fighting.

Number 2: It is very realistic that Israel is not all that innocent themselves, as my grandfather has told me stories of anti-Palestinian behavior within Israel that resulted in the death of a family member.

Number 3: Any organization that aids to help the people of Palestine is good, unless that funding or the actions of that organization aid Hamas as Hamas is a terrorist organization.

Number 4: The definition of Zionism is “the development and protection of a Jewish nation in what is now Israel.�� The definition does not mention Palestine specifically or any hate to other nation as the term was coined in 1897, long before the formation of Israel.

Number 5: Zionism became popularized around the end of World War 2 in 1945, and the nation of Israel was founded 3 years later in 1948, probably because Jewish people wanted to feel safe and a sense of community after the mass genocide of Jews during the Holocaust.

Number 6: People are incorrectly using the term Zionism as the “dislike of or prejudice against people from other countries.” Which is actually the definition of Xenophobia.

If you really cared about the war in Gaza, then you wouldn’t be picking either Israel or Palestine specifically. You would be on the side of the people unrelated to this conflict that are suffering from the actions of corrupt Israeli soldiers and the terrorist organization Hamas. Do not support Hamas. do not support Xenophobia. Do not support Islamophobia. Do not support Antisemitism. Practice media literacy. Do your research on organizations that donate and make sure they don’t support terrorism or corruption. Posting an Israeli or Palestinian flag on your social media doesn’t do jack shit, especially when all the information you have on the situation comes from social media blogs that are tailored to give incomplete or false information to specific demographics. This situation is not black and white. We have a responsibility to protect innocent humans. Not nations, not ideals, innocent human beings.

I will be doing research and providing organizations that you can donate to that solely support affected people and not terrorism. I don’t care if you block me, but at last dig deeper and educate yourself, but if you attack me or send people to attack me, saying that I’m a zionist, terrorist, or anything under the sun without reading the entire post, then you are part of the problem.

Edit: I want to reiterate, while Israel has every right to want to fuck up Hamas six ways to Sunday, it is SO EXTREMELY and HIGHLY REALISTIC that war crimes have been committed by select individuals within the Israeli military. I cannot ignore these instances. While the war on terrorism is just, systematic Xenophobia does exist within Israel, which resulted in the death of my grandfather’s sister, or at the very least she received less priority with her medical care within an Israeli hospital. This whole post is neither a defense of Israel or Palestine and I cannot pick sides because of my family background being related to both a Palestinian AND a Nazi from WW2 (I didn’t include that in the beginning because I felt people would just read “Nazi” and shut my whole argument down on just that one factor). I have a moral obligation to make sure the genocide of Jewish people never happens again, but also to support my grandfather and his people overseas. My only purpose is to reiterate that this situation is not good-side bad-side, black or white. My goal here is to inform people of the history surrounding the situation and correct any misinformation. Which there is a lot of holy crap. My heart goes out to all the families within or related to those of the Gaza Strip, as well as Israeli families and individuals who have been affected by terrorism.

[lesslie-sass]

Here's my advice

Stop being sexist against your own sex, and go get some therapy for several things

No rational human being wants you dead

But you do really like to be terrible and make yourself the victim

But I don't condone people telling you to off yourself

Grow a spine and realize when you're insulting people like me that have to deal with mental dissorders too. You're not the only one

Or perhaps simply move communities so you don't have to deal with people that have proper media literacy and a want to respect people with mental disorders. Either works

Again, obviously no rational human being wants you to die and no one should ever tell you to. But we don't want to deal with your shit if you're being sexist and ableist. Stop being an absolute hypocrite

Jeez, put your hate boner away, I can feel it from another continent

First of all, just because I don't wanna excuse female character's terrible behavior doesn't suddenly make me a "women hater" like you want to see me as, I don't care what gender Uzi is and still would've thought she's annoying brat. For the "ableistic" shit, as again, mental problems doesn't excuse terrible behavior, acting out only makes situation worse and people around either annoyed or creeped out (like Uzi's classmates but I guess their feelings don't matter near your gothic waifu) and for your "she's heavily implied to have BPD, PTSD, autism, etc." I have one small question - did Liam or Glitch officially state that Uzi has any of those? No? Then shut up about your headcannons, or rather delusions and projections, that has no ground to be used as argument.

Playing the victim, huh? Oh sorry, how dare I be openly upset about getting dogpiled and hated for my opinion that others, you as well, could've easily ignore. That people got butthurt I wasn't backing down and destroyed my reputation in return, blocking me, spreading how terrible I am, how wrong and toxic I am, encouraged others to do the same. You didn't need to do this, but you did and encouraged it anyway, not carring that I have problems, that I may not be doing great irl, that I actually might've had something to do with myself, only because you couldn't just move on. Just because fictional character and ship getting shitted on was more important in your eyes, compared to me who didn't harrass or insult anyone directly, you have fucked up priorities.

I had every right to get you all to fuck off, when you didn't wanna listen to any of my points AND ignored Lizard literally wishing me to die, or even someone close to me to die. You just want to have some kind of "enemy" of the fandom, target those who's vocal about their negative opinion about MD and make fandom bring them down and tier them apart, to feel better that you "defeated" them and saved the fandom from such "toxic" individual.

And who the hell are you to tell me or anyone else if they should leave the fandom? That "you" don’t wanna deal with my shit, when it's not even directed at anyone directly? Or is it more like "we accept you the way you are, cringe and free! ...until you have different opinion than we do"? Like the same thing with VanityMoth, with people like you invalidating his opinion that happened to be the one you don't agree with and making him this big asshole who's terrible and should just shut up for good. (I use him as example for how this isn't one time accident with me, I may not agree with every point he makes or his behavior, which might as well got worse because of huge hate he got, I speak here only for myself and how this kind of situation was towards me) It's not that people think you can't handle criticism, it's that you clearly show you can't.

AND...

Why I should ask anything from this person, who was all to happy to add fuel to the situation and clearly doesn't like me either? Heck no, they're in my block where they belong.

And therapy is expensive btw and with your creepy ass obsession towards me you need it more, perhaps in good place like Mount Massive Asylum OR perhaps listen to your own advice and leave me alone

[metaforth]

I can speak for myself. As an autistic person I am more than capable of deciding on my own what offends me in terms of representation. I do not need allistics to come to my defense on matters I don't even care about.

It infuriates me to no end everytime I see the thousandth video by an allistic person insisting a specific character is autism coded and talking about how they're a harmful stereotype when I myself don't even see what makes that character seem autistic. Perhaps the one with stereotypical views on aspies isn't any of the people working on that show methinks.

Like honestly, I don't really have any problems with Sheldon from Big Bang Theory. Honestly I sorta like him. For one that show runners have denied time and time again that he's meant to be autistic to the point of making it canon in the show that he was tested for it and isn't but, if we're looking at him that way...

He's a PhD holding scientist with a high paying job. He's got a circle of friends who while they may at times find him irritating ultimately are willing to give him the space he needs and understand his differences from their behavior wise and that sometimes they need to be a little more careful with him, friends who share and are willing to indulge him on his special interests. By the end of the show he has a wife that loves and respects him not in spite of his behaviors, but in large part because of how they're part of who he is. This is bad? Fuck this is aspirational. I'd love this. But the show makes some jokes at his expense so the creators are ableist I guess.

Now I haven't seen every single episode of Big Bang so maybe they go all autism speaks at some point, who knows, but my point is maybe let us talk about this? The people who actually are autistic and would love a platform to be seen talking about it.

The one that pisses me off the most is when people assert that Arthur from the Joker movie is autistic (what?) and the movie depicts that as the primary reason he's violent. For one I never got that sense from the movie, I got the sense that a multitude of things in his life lead to his decline and to his eventual turn to violence and public outbursts aside from just his mental conditions, societal pressures, constant abuse from everyone in his life and complete strangers alike, a lifetime of being lied to by his mother, ect. But ig you need some way to feel morally superior to people with media literacy so have your tangents about how the movie is ableist I guess.

And it was mostly nuerotypicals making that point, which is even more annoying to me. Videos like that got so fucking big and most of the time were made by people who honestly, I don't even think saw the movie, and were white knighting on behalf of a group of people who at least in my circles, fucking love Joker.

Let autistic people speak for themselves. By speaking over us when we don't have a platform to be heard and insisting you know what we're thinking when we're capable of doing communicating that ourselves you are no different than the con artists at Autism Speaks or the ableists who think we're all non verbal and incapable of interacting with other human beings. You are doing just as much harm as any of them, if not even more because you're tricking people into believing you actually care what we think.

I'm certain plenty of autistic and neurodivergent disagree with my opinions on Joker and Big Bang Theory and thats great. But I want to hear THEIR takes on why, not yours.

That's why the rallying cry for us will always be important, because we have the constant experience of being denied a platform to speak about our own issues, even by our alleged allies. So it is now and forever shall be, Nothing about us, without us.

[timemachineyeah]

Here's how it works:

Either,

A) Human memory is a perfect record of an exact experience, and those experiences are always correctly interpreted OR

B) People can be really wrong about even their own firsthand experiences

Right? Like those are the options. And here's the thing, I don't think anyone who has ever once tried to find a thing they swore they put right there has ever believed A. Like you can pretend to, but you don't. You have written things down before for yourself for later. You take a picture of your parking spot like anyone else.

And B is obvious, because the alternative to the possibility that people can be wrong about their own experiences is that: we are constantly hopping from alternate reality to alternate reality. Dreams are real. Did you find inconsistencies in your reminisces with someone else? You're both right and one or both of you ?dimension hopped? ??somehow?? which is a thing that apparently happens all the time. Every conspiracy is real. Every God is real. Every prophecy and vision is real. Aliens are real and bigfoot is real the chupacabra is real and ghosts are real and fairies are real and chemtrails are real and antisemitic lizard people are real and satanic child-sacrificing cults are real, all of it. Every single thing any person fervently believes, so much so that it is real to them, is objectively real to everyone, in an inherently contradictory universe that can hold no meaning.

But, like, that's why we have to find some other kind of evidence for things, right? That's why we have to compare notes and test our senses against the evidence and against reason. There are, of course, some things that we have to take other people's word for. When measuring people's feelings experiences, about the only thing we can do is ask them. Which is impossible to double check. But it's all we have.

But when someone's experience goes outside the bounds of what is possible according to much more duplicable and predictive sciences, the only thing I have any evidence to believe is that you believe it. And I will respect that you believe it, but I don't have to alter my behavior or worldview to accommodate it. I don't mean that harshly. It's not an insult. It's just a fact. It's not reasonable to expect someone to alter their entire worldview based on a single conviction and no other evidence. That's a wild thing to ask even someone you are incredibly close with to do.

There are maybe one or two people who I know well enough and respect their incredulity enough that if they came to me in confidence and told me a story neither of us would usually believe for whom I would at least entertain the idea that maybe it really was aliens/ghosts/angels/w'ev. But even that. Even that is highly contextual and I wouldn't just believe them. Now, I might play along, again depending on context. Because I'm not an asshole. If your close friend comes to you and says they think they saw an alien vampire ghost Christ then you, like, read their vibe and talk it out and help however you can because like, real or not that sounds stressful.

But if I don't know you? And you lead with that? And are offended I doubt the veracity of your experiences? Like? What were you expecting? What if I told you I don't believe you because I personally saw or experienced something directly contradictory? Are you going to drop your ideas in favor of mine?

And here's the thing, there's nothing wrong with changing your mind in light of evidence. That's actually really recommended. It's good to be willing to be wrong. About anything and everything. Which has to include even your most fundamental ideas about the world. But when you get enough scientific literacy and logic/semantic literacy and media literacy and social literacy (or use your other literacies to help you find reliable sources on the ones you lack), there's some stuff that becomes more and more supported by evidence.

And it also becomes easier to see the traps, and a lot of them take predictable, repeatable shapes. There are only so many potential points of error in a usual argument. Like an experienced veterinarian who can spot a common illness on sight, but who runs the test to check anyway.

That's the only reasonable way to operate in a world where the only direct experience we have is our own, and even that is something we cannot rely on.

Because if you can absolutely rely on your experience, so can everyone else. So if you and them contradict one another, either they are filthy liars for no apparent reason, or you are from different realities. And those are both completely unlivable mental states to take on with no evidence in their favor.

No. The mental state that is both more personally enjoyable and gets better and more accurate results is the one of curiosity and skepticism. One that demands kindness to others, but not deference.

IDK what I'm talking about any more

[wirewitchviolet]

The latest disinformation campaign from the con artists pushing "AI" - Expanding the definition.

As a growing percentage of the population is waking up to the fact that the whole "AI" thing is some combination of outright lies, the same autocomplete function your phone has had forever, and obfuscation of the outright theft of an unfathomable amount of art, writing, contents of theoretically secure databases, etc. the newly emerging strategy to keep the world from pulling the plug on the whole thing and putting the people stealing basically every file accessible on the internet is a pivot to a defense of "well SOME uses of AI are outright criminal acts sure, but there's a lot of useful things about it to!" However, since that's... you know, not actually true, what they're actually doing is just going around pointing at literally anything cool involving computers and going "see, that's AI!"

Some of the examples I've been seeing have really just been flooring me, too. These hucksters looking for useful software to use as a shield for their scams are pointing at stuff like the basic fundamental concept of a database, AI in the sense of the routines that dictate enemy behavior in games, and even things like freaking shaders. You know, the code that gets applied to 3D models to determine whether they react to lighting realistically or look cartoon-y or whatever. There's a post going around this site right now trying to claim we wouldn't have Miles' jawline in Spiderverse if we shut down the people stealing every digital artist's portfolio to repackage and pretend a computer did it. Yeah no, putting a hand drawn looking line on the edge of a 3D character's jaw is something we've been doing for at least 30 damn years now.

Everything about these scams infuriates me, but this latest set of lies is particularly setting me off, because we're already apparently dealing with a serious problem in society where a huge number of people under the age of 25 or something are just shockingly lacking in basic computer literacy, and now we've got a bunch of con artists trying to convince them that basic math and data structures are beyond all human comprehension and possible only because of whatever goes on inside of the unknowable black box that has an honest to goodness thinking machine, which not only can't be understood, but will stop functioning if you try to stop people from committing blatant theft.

I'm honestly mostly just venting here, but for real, any time you see this sort of crap, please do your civic duty and call out how none of this stuff is "AI" and useful software has nothing to do with any of these creeps scraping every file they can off the internet.

[monobmp]

No I completely understand… there’s a lot that could be done with canon that could be really interesting… and I know exactly what ur talking about when it comes to the awkward social interaction margarita LIKE ITS SO PAINFUL IN A GOOD WAY sinks my teeth into them and shakes them around. I think why Bill is so out of pocket with the kids is that they don’t have as much uhh how do u say it.. like they’re kids and no one outside of the know would believe them.. but also like they don’t have the adult brains that go “I’m just gonna ditch this and run as far away as possible” if that makes sense??? Like an adult typically has much more resources. I think Bill was also just genuinely invested in keeping up appearances at first and see how far he could sink his claws into Ford… I always thought that Bill would have a very far removed POV on human socialization and use it like a reference guide on how and what buttons to push, which is really fun bc my major uses a similar perspective to examine human social behaviors

Also I understand the Ford dislike bc I’ve been down bad for him since middle school but dear god he’s an asshole basically for the entirety of the show. Legitimately the only person he’s consistently nice to is Mabel, which to me is interesting when you put that next to his interactions w/ Dipper before weirdmageddon. I suppose it clarifies that he doesn’t really have any disdain for people who aren’t like him, just some really outdated beliefs. But it’s ok I can fix him

There is!!! It's just I'm not really much of a writer though, unfortunately, I love consuming the content, but it's hard to think of suitable content yourself 😔 it's tough 😭😭😭

And YEAH that honestly makes sense. It's giving "I'm the creature your parents warn you about if you don't brush your teeth before going to bed" but no physical harm, maybe just trauma though.

And Bill keeping up the "muse" appearance 💕💕💕💕💕 I still find it crazy Ford calls him "My Muse" and had all that Bill memorabilia 😭 ALSO I really like the idea of him using memories as a reference guide for human socialization, even if he doesn't fully get it. I love it a lot actually, I love learning an outsiders perspective on understanding human mannerisms and dissecting the deeper meaning of it. Like sure he's a little freak in a human POV that aligns dead rats into Ford's name for his birthday, but that means a lot to Bill in his own way, right? Smiles

I DON'T HATE FORD ANYMORE, I'm no longer a young idiot that didn't have the concept of media literacy and can understand more on why Ford was so mean </3 but also he was like, gone from human civilization for 30+ years and was being chased by a triangle for that entire time. Just give grandpa some time to get adjusted again 😊

[racefortheironthrone]

Are you familiar with Peter Turchin’s work and if so, what are your thoughts? Is he considered a serious historian?

After researching this guy’s bio for a bit, I can say that he’s not a historian - his PhD seems to be in Zoology - and this whole cliodynamics business seems to be a discipline that he invented in a brazen act of academic columbusing/academic imperialism. Historians do not consider him a serious historian, and nor do I.

The problem with Turchin’s entire academic project is twofold: first, there is not enough data to do the kind of precision mathematical modeling that he purports to do. When it comes to pre-modern history, there are huge swathes of time and space and human experience for which we do not have records, either because the records didn’t survive to the present, literacy rates weren’t high enough to produce the desired types and levels of records, or the literate classes simply didn’t consider worthy of being written down. When it comes to modern history, things are a bit better because modern societies tend to produce written records at an incomprehensible volume, but here the problem is that the sheer mass of records plus certain specialized problems in library sciences that are too complicated to go into in this post (but I’ll explain if someone asks me) means that only a tiny fraction of these records are digitized, let alone digitized in a way that they can then be put into a database and modeled upon. As my old professor Eric Foner put it during new major orientation: “the difference between ancient history and modern history is that in ancient history you know all your sources but there aren’t any, and in modern history there are tons of sources but you don’t know them.”

Second, even if there was enough data, trying to accurately and meaningfully model all of human history is a futile endeavor. This is something that we discuss in introductory theory courses - the complex interplay of historical forces and individual agency/contingency, the literally infinite number of factors that influence human society and behavior, and so on. The historiography of ideas is littered with failed attempts to construct total theories of history - the Hegelians, the Marxists, the objectivists (which isn’t the same thing as Randian Objectivism, it’s complicated and I’ll explain in another post if anyone really wants to know), huge swathes of sociology but especially the structuralists, significant swathes of political science and psychology, and oh my god so many economists. It’s pretty much a cliche at this point for social scientists to say they were inspired to become social scientists by childhood dreams of becoming a psychohistorian like Hari Seldon. The problem is that psychohistory is science fiction, it’s not real, and it can’t be real because humans are too damn complex and contradictory. It is a massive red flag that Turchin has explicitly compared cliodynamics to psychohistory; it’s like when some Silicon Valley disruptor starts talking about how their latest project was inspired by their favorite sci-fi series.

So yeah, this guy seems like a total quack.

[insomniac-jay]

Wow you guys really just forced someone to publicly reveal their trauma on the internet over a comic argument. An argument about how its important to not act like addiction is something people just get over and never struggle with again because it very much is a constant thing you live with. Y'all are acting like trash and honestly that person brought up a 100% valid point about oversharing information on the internet. All of y'all do better and learn to treat others like actual human beings instead of chances to prove your purity points of non-toxic behavior. 

Defending someone who called triggers "weaknesses" is not the hill to die on, anon. Also quick question: do you know anyone in your life who is a recovering addict? Maybe come from a family of recovering addicts? No? Then maybe someone like you and the person you're defending don't need to have horses in this race because you don't know, nor have you ever had a loved one who was a recovering addict.

And by the way, it is just "a comic argument", DC has literally erased Roy's addiction and all his pre New 52 character development just so he could be Jason's lapdog. Why don't you go read some of Roy's old comics and get some media literacy before trying to come at me?

And no, we didn't force anyone to reveal any trauma. You're probably referring to my mutual @honeysgalaxy mentioning that they have recovering family members, but me and my other mutual @jasontoddssuper didn't force them to reveal that. They chose to mention it.

But since I know dumbass anons like you can't read to save your lives, here's a tl;dr